Yep, a Mythic Japan would be good.
Oh, and could the 'Four Seasons' Saga be redone for the 5th Edition? I'm not asking for exactly the same stories, but the idea of playing Shakesperian styled stories themed after the four seasons of a covenant is brilliant!
Do it in one gargantuan hardback book (four 'chapters') and I bet it will sell in the current market, just like the giant campaigns currently around for D&D and WoD.
:sigh: I suspect that ArM sales aren't really comparable to D&D and WoD sales... 
No, but neither are Pendragon sales, and they did the Great Pendragon Campaign recently. For Call of Cthulhu, it is stated that the best selling books outside of the core rules are epic campaigns like Masks of Nyarlathotep.
I think people like big iconic, archetypal campaigns that illustrate the basic themes of the game they have. Utilising the Shakespearian qualities and epic nature of the 4 Seasons Saga could appeal to those gamers that bought the core rules of Ars Magica but not much else.
Well honestly that is as I expected. I know the fans of Ars Magica are diverse, luckily! And I had the suspicion that the Fallen might not have sold as much. This is nevertheless a brainstorming, where dreams are allowed to roam free, so that is why I decided to suggest it anyhow. As a sidenote I do hope you might integrate some of the interesting plot hooks in it into new material, so that non-livers might get to enjoy them aswell.
And also a great big thanks for doing this thread and asking the people here! I really appreciate it and it makes my appreciate the 5th ed revival of Ars even more! Cheers!
So is everybody so familiar with Ars Medieval Paradigm that they aren't interested in a book that focuses on it? I find myself confused all the time by what is appropriate vs what is non-period. There are lots of lists on the Internet about what scientists know about the middle ages, but no comprehensive gathering I know of that shows what they people in that time believed in.
I may be the dumbest guy on this list, but I know I'm not the dumbest guy in our troupe, and we all have troubles. How does one exactly interact with a humor? What's in the local woods? What happens when you heat water? Mix chemicals? Cut open an animal? Sail West? Light a fire? Melt wax?
OK, so under the previous line editor, I and two other guys were commisioned to do Mythic China. For various reasons each of them needed to withdraw from the project. I needed tyheir greater knowledge of Chinese history to get the thing up, so it never got up. My 20 000 words, or so, were published in Mythic Perspectives magazine. Three varieities of Chinese magicians, and gunpowder weapons too. Check it out.
Gang, China is just undoable in a single book. Let me try to explain this: when we were trying to write a table of Chinese Gods, and the modifers you got for worshipping them, I gave up when it hit five pages long in eight point type. From the Chinese perspective, Europe's not a "continent" it's a penninusla. A penninsula of little towns, filled with poor, enducated people. -Europe- is going to take us more than 13 books. How can we fit all of China, including at least three new magic systems, in a book the size of the book for -Ireland-.
IMC, Tranoma was Chinese. Had the China book got up...but no. Japan is doable, because its really small compared to China. India is more doable than China. Mali is doable. Kushan is very doable. Trebizond is so doable that if I wasn't doing other stuff I'd have done it already. The Canary Islands are so doable I've done them: see the Ancient Magic sneak peek.
China...its too big. It's just too big. We can mention it tangetially, as something that's there, and affects the entire world by accident (The "Serica" mentioned in the C&G sneak peek is sort-of China), but to do it with any sort of depth, any sort of regional variation...anything that, on a European scale would make Brittany and Ireland more than a sentence, doesn't work. I know, because in the drafts I mocked up those many long years ago, Taiwan got about three lines.
This was covered pretty comprehensively in "The Dragon and the Bear".
I'd like a book of enemies on the covenant level, not the Order level. On the Order level, if you don't chip in, then you are a traitor. On the local level, you have some possibility of accomidation, and it's up to you, not the Primus of Bonisagus to fight until the terms suit you. The "first: smash the world" style of saga design works for me with Nobilis and Amber, but not so much with Ars, because it damages the medieval setting quite a bit, IMO.
Ok, well I guess we'll have to stick with the Mythic Japan book then, instead?
The Dragon and the Bear is a 4th edition book, don't forget, though. There is no reason why we can't revisit the Mongols in another 5th Edition book. Like I say, they can be used as the backstory of a pretty epic campaign.
I guess what I'm saying is that Ars Magica needs to think about creating a few epic chronicle books that draw upon some classical or historical sources. They need to emphasise the strengths of the game in this way, I think.
This is, because 'the medieval paradigm' never existed - though it was unfortunately introduced as an unexplained term in ArM3, then causing all kind of mischief. It was dropped like a hot potato in ArM4 and never postulated since then.
People of different places, times and station believed wildly varying things in the middle ages, and utterly contradicting ideas of the world, its working and meaning coexisted even among the scholars of 'Christian' Europe.
There is a convention among longterm ArM gamers, which states, that the Christian adaptation of Aristoteles laid down by the Aquinate is right if some authority is needed in game: but note that in 1220 Thomas isn't even born yet, so Thomism is nobody's belief then.
Kind regards,
Berengar
(Like, say, in Ancient Magic?)
Well, personally, the one aspect of the Old Grimoire that I really enjoyed were the "essays" at the beginning of the book, showing the attitudes of various mages. Perhaps a book containing these writings might be of help and will give some "colour"?
With respect to an Order of Hermes book, I'd be interested in a book that discusses the administration of the Order and the various tribunals.
A nobles and warfare book would be interesting; i'd also like to see a law and order book (both hermetic and mundane).
Just my two cents from a forum newbie.
Hi Grendel,
Welcome aboard!
I also liked those mood-setting essays - concerning the Order, if you haven't already got it, and don't feel like waiting years, you can find a lot of info on the Order's rutines in the Guernicus chapter of Houses of Hermes: True Lingeages.
What Ferretz said about the different timezone campaigns, I would like to suggest a Roman period - With the Cult of Mercury as the heroic force. The dominance of the Cult of Mercury marching with the Roman legions and stealing magical knowledge and artifacts from all their defeated enemies appeals to me. Like the hermetic order they are given a unique oportunity for expanding their knowledge and magical techniques.
Wherever the Roman armies march, you have different magical enemies to handle - Bjornaers predecessors backing the Germans at the battle of Teutenberg, Diednic druids in Gaul and Brittania, Thessalic cults in Greece. The difference is that each of these cults is at the height of their power until the heroes arrive. The possibility of a campaign on a grand scale until the power of the Dominion begins to take over the Empire and without the support of the Mercurians the Empire implodes.
I'm sorry maybe I'm using the term. What would you call the logic in the world Ars Magica takes place in?
Makes me wanna run see Fall of the Roman Empire, Ben Hur, Spartacus and I Claudius!
Or buy Eternal Rome... sigh, too many games to play, too little time...
Is Ancient Magic an epic campaign? I dunno, but detailing Mongol magic might be pretty good anyway.
I was just calling attention to the heading in AM's Table of Contents that reads "The Encroaching Mongols."
I second the call for a Grimoire, for a book detailing topics like troupe style and powerful magi, and (truly dear to my heart) for a House Diedne book.
Moreover, what I'd really like to see is the What If ? Ars Magica book. A book exploring all kinds of possible modifications to the standard setting, which might be caused by evolutions of the Hermetic Magic Theory, from socio-political developments in the Order, or in Mythic Europe. From what I've seen, Ancient Magic begins to do it to a minor degree, by discussing the consequences of various AM breakthroughs, but I'd really like to see this approach a bit more generalized: e.g. what if the OoH adopts prienting presses, or Mysteries become official parts of the Order, or the OoH get an official detente with the Church, or the Schism War was fought against the Tremere instead, etc.
I would suggest:
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A book on the Theban Tribunal.
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A book on the Crusades and the collapse of the Crusader Kingdoms in the Levant.
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A book on the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutons (including standard "historical" version, and various "mythic" and "Da Vinci Code" options).
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A "Troupe's Handbook", including new Hermetic spells, loads of extra virtues and flaws, magical items, and advice for story guides, troupe-style play, example magi/companions, etc.